


Prove It

by On_the_Side_of_the_Angels



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gwen the Tosh expert, M/M, Wooing, failed wooing, proving love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-21 05:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/On_the_Side_of_the_Angels/pseuds/On_the_Side_of_the_Angels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen has to prove to Tosh that she's not just another one night stand. But he's never had to woo someone like this so, of course, things go very wrong before they go right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Look

He had never looked at her before; not in the way she had wanted him to at least. They had worked together for five years, side by side, till all hours of the night, and she couldn’t help the feelings she had for him. She couldn’t call it love. She wouldn’t. You can’t love Owen Harper, because he could never love you back.  

Every day, she was forced to stand by and watch him go through woman after woman. He never stayed with the same one for more than a couple of days, and usually no more than one night. One night stands, that was his thing. Granted, it was hard for anyone to keep up a normal relationship with this job, but for him it was fun. He enjoyed the bar scene: picking up women too drunk to walk straight, taking them home to his flat, and then kicking them out in the morning. It was like a game to him. 

Tosh knew this all too well. She had berated herself many times for being stupid enough to develop feelings for Owen, but it never helped. She couldn’t help caring for him. She would watch him as he worked. He often licked his lips when he was examining a fresh alien body,, and she wondered how it would feel to be able to kiss those lips, to have them pressed against hers. She thought it would be the most wonderful thing in the world.  

She didn’t mind when he made fun of her and her computers, as long as he talked to her. As long as he noticed her. Somehow, she always kept up the hope that he would one day look at her the same way she looked at him. It was a foolish hope. She knew he never would . . . Never could feel the same way about her. He barely looked at her at all. 

Until today. 

At first, Tosh thought she was imagining it. Seeing what she wanted to see because she had been dreaming about it for too long. But then it continued happening. He kept looking at her, glancing quickly in her direction when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was so confused. She had no idea what to make of this. Once, they made eye contact, and he smiled at her. At this, Tosh blushed and looked away quickly, smiling down into her keyboard. _Could this really be happening? After waiting so long, could this be true?_  

 _\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_  

Tosh got up and walked to the archive room to file something away. Normally, Ianto does this, but he was kinda busy shagging the captain, up in his office. Every one knows not to disturb them if the office blinds are drawn. Gwen made that mistake once and it almost scarred her for life. Made a great inside joke for the rest of them though; they mocked her for months after that little incident.  

She typed in her key code and disappeared behind the file room door, closing it behind her. It was going to take forever for her to find the one box she was looking for out of the millions of others lining the shelves in the room. She jumped suddenly when she heard the door slam closed. When she poked her head around the shelf she had been searching through to see who it was, she was surprised to see Owen.  

“Hey,” she said shyly, “need something filed?” 

“Yes. I mean . . . I mean, no,” He stammered. “I’ve been hoping to get you alone all day.” 

“Why?” 

“I think you know why.” He took a step towards her.  

“No . . . I really don’t. I’m quite confused right now, Owen.” Tosh began to blush profusely.  

He continued to step towards her, slowly. They were inches apart now. She could feel his soft breath on her skin. She could barely breath; her chest felt tight. He was so close. Too close. She couldn’t think.  

Before she could even blink, he had closed the small gap between them and kissed her. When their lips met, her eyes widened in surprise before closing tightly as she leaned in to the kiss. One hand on her waist, Owen raised the other to tangle his fingers in her long, dark hair. Tosh wrapped her arms around him, pulling him even closer. Then she pushed him away. When she looked at him, his eyes were full of confusion.  

“What’s wrong?” he asked, stroking her face with his hand.  

Reluctantly, Tosh grabbed ahold of his hand to stop the stroking. “I know you, Owen. You don’t care for people; you don’t have relationships. I don’t want to be just another woman in your long line of conquests.” 

“You don’t understand, Tosh,” Owen began. You’re not a conquest. You’re not the same as them. I know it took me a long time to realize it, and I know I hurt you in the process but I care for you . . . deeply.” 

“Owen . . . no matter how much I want to, how can you expect me to believe that you’ve changed, just like that, after more than five years of one night stands?” 

“I know, I know. I was a complete ass before. But when you almost died in that weevil attack last week . . . When I almost lost you, I couldn’t bare the though of it. I need you, Tosh. I want you.” And he kissed her again. 

Tosh sank into the kiss before regaining her strength of will and pushing him back once more.  

“Prove it,” She said simply. And Owen disappeared, back into the hub, with a determined look on his face. He had never before wanted anything in his life more than he wanted this.

 


	2. Help Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen attempts to win Tosh over but he needs some help if he's gonna succeed.

When Tosh came in to work the next day, her whole desk was covered in red roses. Hundreds of roses. They were everywhere: all over her computer, her keyboard, her chair, everywhere! She stood there, staring at it all in shock. Where had all these come from?

“You like them?” Tosh looked to her left to see Owen leaning casually against one of the larger consoles, a wide grin on his face. 

“Well . . . yes. They’re beautiful!”

“So . . . you wanna go snog in the file room again?” He winked at her and grinned. 

Tosh’s smile quickly turned into an offended glare as she huffed in annoyance. “You’re such an ass!” she yelled as she turned and stormed out of the room. 

Owen slumped back against the console, disappointed. Why had he said that? He always blurted things out without thinking when he got nervous, and Tosh made him so nervous! Winning her over was going to be harder than he had thought.

He decided to go ask Gwen for ideas. After all, she and Tosh had become very close in recent months. She would know Tosh’s mind better than anyone. She’d be able to help him.

“Hey, Jack!” Owen called up to the office on the second floor. 

“I’m a little busy right now!” A voice called back, he sounded out of breath. The blinds on his office were drawn, but Owen was persistent. 

“I really don’t care what you and your little boy toy are doing. I just need to know where Gwen is!”

“She’s off . . . on a recon mission” Jack grunted. “Look it up on the computer.”

“Thanks, that’s all I needed to know.” Owen went over to the computer and programmed Gwen’s coordinates into his phone. 

When he finally reached her coordinates, he realized that he had arrived just in the nick of time. As he pulled up onto the top floor of the parking garage he saw a circle of about thirty weevils that was slowly closing in on the person standing at the center of that circle. That person, of course, was Gwen. She was holding her hand gun out at arms length and quickly turning round and round the circle of weevils in a desperate attempt to keep them at bay. Owen laughed, what would everyone do without him there to save there asses? 

He hopped out of the car and grabbed a small, metal sphere from the back of the car before turning to the circle of weevils. “Hey, Gwen! Cover your eyes!” Owen shouted as he twisted the top and bottom halves of the sphere. For a second, Gwen stared at him in confusion, then, realization dawned in her eyes and she quickly swung her hands over her face. 

Owen tossed the now beeping sphere into the midsts of the weevils. The beeping sped up, as if in a count down, then a sudden flash filled he parking garage and the weevils fell to the concrete, unconscious.

“Thanks for saving me, for a minute there I thought I was a goner.” Gwen said as she climbed over motionless weevil bodies. 

“Anytime,” Owen smiled. “Now how about a drink? I need your help with something; something personal.

“Sure.” Gwen said, confused, as she followed Owen to the car. She had never seen him look so out of sorts before. He seemed nervous. Owen was the cockiest person she’d ever met, she didn’t think he was capable of feeling nervous. This had to be something pretty important; her curiosity was piqued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update! computer broke down!


	3. Think Before You Speak

The bar was noisy and and over crowded, but Owen maneuvered the two of them through the crowd, to a table tucked into the back corner that offered at least some semblance of privacy. They sat down across from each other; Gwen staring at Owen, and Owen staring down into his drink, determinedly avoiding eye contact. They sat like this for a while, in silence, until Gwen finally spoke up.

"What's going on Owen?"

"I need your advice on something."

"Yes, you said that already. Advice on what, exactly?"

"It's Tosh. I think I like Tosh, ok!" Owen admitted hurriedly.

Gwen assumed a knowing, yet guarded expression. "Look, Owen, you can't just 'think' you like Tosh. Before you do anything, you have to be sure. You have no idea how hard it's been on her to have to watch you go through woman after woman with all your one night stands. But I do, she confides in me, and she is my best friend. If you break her heart, I will not hesitate to break a couple of your bones."

"I know! I know! I was a complete arse before! I screwed up. But now I want to make things right. When she almost died in that weevil attack I finally realized how stupid I've been. Imagining a world without was just unbearable. I want this more than anything."

"You realize this isn't going to be simple, right? You can't just do one big romantic gesture and be done with it. You're going to have to prove it every minute of every day if you want to convince her that your feelings are real."

"I know" Owen said quietly. He ran a hand through his nervously, taking another sip of his drink.

"As long as you realize that, I'm willing to help you."

"Really?" Owen looked up at her, with hope in his eyes.

"Yes, just remember, if you hurt her, I hurt you."

"I know, I know." Owen raises both of his hands in acknowledgement of the threat.

Gwen leaned forward, elbows on the table, resting his chin on clasped hands. "So," she smiles, "what ideas do you have so far?"

"Absolutely none. I tried surprising her by putting roses all over her desk but I kind of screwed that up..."

"How the hell do you screw? It's so simple."

"I may have or may not have asked her if she wanted to go snog in the file room again after she discovered the roses..."

Gwen shook her head in amazement at his stupidity, "wait, snog again? What do you mean, again???"

"Well...I kind of kissed her in the file room the other day..."

"Oh, Owen, you didn't?!" Gwen shook her head purposefully. "If you really want to prove to Tosh that you've changed, you can't just go around trying to shove your tongue down her throat!"

"Well sooooorry! I'm a little new at the whole wooing thing, gosh." He huffed, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. "The thing is, I get really nervous whenever I see her and I just blurt things out without thinking."

"You just need to remember to think before you speak." Gwen rolled her eyes. "Now, wooing ideas ... hmmm" she murmurs, leaning forward and looking thoughtfully out into space.

"Oh! I've got it!" Owen jumped as Gwen suddenly broke the long silence.

He leaned forward eagerly. "What's the plan?"

**Author's Note:**

> First time trying out a torchwood story. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Please comment :) Thanks!


End file.
